The First Step
by Florida's Firefly
Summary: A four-part fic. Here is narrated the story of Shifu’s past before he became a Master - how he came to first step foot into the Jade Palace as a cub, how he first met Oogway...and what does the Sword of Heroes have to do with anything? Chap. 3 up!
1. Uninvited

_**A/N - Please read!!**_

Okay, well the origins of this fic actually came about a week before _Kung Fu Panda_ actually hit theaters. I had already done enough research on the movie to know that Shifu was indeed my favorite character, and that's only grown since. What you're about to read is actually a massively extended version of the prologue I've created for my own sequel to the movie. I decided it could hold its own. This super-long "prologue" is so far divided into three parts that might end up as four. Consider it a sneak peek of the larger story which I hope to get up on here before too long. Also know that these chapters will be lengthy…

Enjoy!

_Chapter 1: Uninvited_

The Valley of Peace – containing a peaceful and protected little village cradled by the snow-capped Cliffs of the Great Awakening in the middle of China – was not what anyone would've called "peaceful" during the final years of the Quon dynasty. During this time, long before the Dragon Warrior had even been born, war fell upon the empire against Mongolia. Extra security was instantly set up about the Valley, specifically at the arch of the Thread of Hope – the long series of rope bridges that protected the village from oncoming armies.

Set above bottomless chasms shrouded in cloud, the bridges were so narrow that they only allowed strangers to come in single file. Yet despite the heightened security, the Valley was not entirely spared of enemy attacks – one such example being an ugly assault from a Mongol band of Golden Eagles.

The protectors of the valley – masters in the art of kung fu – were urged to sharpen their skills as they would need them now more than ever. Grand Master Oogway had already trained several courageous individuals that gave their lives to protect the valley.

One of Oogway's most notable students at the time was Captain Chen-Koto, who had spent his whole life mastering battlefield tactics as well as kung fu. After suffering the loss of his wife in the recent assault on the Valley by the Mongol Eagles, Koto left the safety of the Valley of Peace, led the Chinese army into battle against the Mongols, and stood on the frontlines himself. The fight was a close call and several casualties were received on both sides, but – in the end – the captain's skills of strategy and fighting tactics saw China to victory. Celebration and ceremony followed at the Imperial Palace and all across the country, and Emperor Yat-sen himself honored Koto and his soldiers as heroes.

Upon returning home to the Valley, Koto was greeted with reverence and admiration… But no one met him with quite so much exuberance as his young son, who rather unceremoniously ran and leapt into his father's embracing arms upon his return.

With peace rightfully restored once more to the village, Koto spent the next few years as an honorary representative of the Valley of Peace to the emperor. First and foremost, however, his efforts went to properly raising his son. Fortunately, danger was no longer a worry to the citizens of the Valley, and the days passed in a settled peace.

But the Ju-long Alliance was ever on the track to disturb that peace.

The Ju-long Alliance was essentially a gang of pirates that traversed China, and they were known and feared by the entire nation. Their entire activities included not much more than burning towns, looting homes, and kidnapping helpless citizens. But one way or another, they always managed to escape the hands of the law. Its members were bound to the Alliance for life, which resulted in the rise of some very well-trained and dangerously driven criminals.

The leader – at that time – of the Ju-long Alliance was a fierce rhino warrior named Raidon. Word had reached all across China and beyond of Captain Chen-Koto's admirable valor and unstoppable skills, and Raidon had grown curious. He didn't know what kind of animal this guy was, but the moment he had gathered a few of his recruits, he made arrangements to pay this mysterious warrior an undercover visit.

He went with four of his confederates, consisting of a takin, two wolves, and a cobra. They had crossed into the Valley of Peace only days before by passing themselves off as weary travelers. Led by Raidon, the group of marauders walked quietly through the streets of the village, which had gotten fairly quiet in the late evening hours. The rhino leader paused and muttered something to his company about hiding their medallions before they approached two rabbits walking along the street in the other direction.

"Excuse me," Raidon addressed the rabbits, who looked a little startled to see the large animal in their village. "We're looking for Captain Chen-Koto."

Although a bit intimidated, one of the rabbits pointed towards a house near the end of the road. "He-He lives down there. He's probably training, though, and he doesn't like to be bothered when he is…"

"We'll take our chances," Raidon smiled. "Thank you, gentlemen."

The group continued down the road towards the house that the rabbits had pointed out to them. Once they neared it, Raidon stopped his four accomplices. "Wait here," he ordered. "I will give you the signal if needed."

With that, the large rhino carefully stepped into the small house. He looked around and saw no one in the little hallway he had found himself in. It made him wonder once more what kind of animal Captain Chen-Koto was… And how one so powerful and skilled made do with such low ceilings.

Raidon's big, mud-colored ears tilted forward upon hearing noises coming from what seemed to be a room in the back of the house. The sounds were clearly _kia_ – the yells of effort one made during martial arts training. Following the yells, he made his way to the back room of the small house, which was indeed a training room.

Captain Chen-Koto was in the middle of the room. He was training all right, but he wasn't alone. He was training his son, who now looked to be no older than six. They were red pandas – small raccoon-like animals with red and white fur that were about the size of a small dog.

Koto wore a burlap robe of emerald green with a black sash around his waist. The cub donned a burlap tunic of maroon with black slacks and a golden-colored belt. He was less than half the size of his already small father, but he was really quite a powerhouse of energy. Raidon had entered, in fact, just in time to see the boy give a cry of effort and take a few skilled swings with a bamboo bow staff at his father, who quickly blocked them with his own staff and ended the duel.

"Very good," Koto chuckled. "You just need to be a little quicker when you attack, otherwise your opponent will have a stronger opportunity to attack before you do." He beamed and took a step back. "Now show me your blocking stance, say, if someone were to attack from above."

After a slight pause to recall it, the young cub leapt into a defensive _bai gong bu_ position, effectively holding his bamboo staff above and slightly in front of him.

Koto nodded and reached out his staff, gently tapping his son's outstretched foot back a bit. "Lean into it," he advised and proceeded to stand behind his son, wrapping his arms around him and guiding him into the proper positioning of his arms and legs. "Relax."

Once it seemed as though his son had it, Koto slowly stepped back and gave a smile when the small cub maintained the pose and glanced back at him for approval.

"Well done," the father grinned.

"Can I try the kata again?"

Koto shook his head. "No, not tonight."

"One more, Baba, please?"

"That's what you said three duels ago, young man," Koto smiled. "Seriously, if your mama knew I let you stay up this late, she'd have my head." They then stepped back from each other. "_Gen Lai_!" Koto raised his voice, spun his staff to rest at his side, and gave the traditional salute of his fist planted into his palm.

The cub rested his staff and copied the salute, raising his voice as well. "_Xie Xie_!" he shouted. The two red pandas bowed their heads to each other.

It wasn't until now that Raidon finally decided to make his presence known. He walked forward as father and son started to part ways, and caused them both to come to a stop when they looked up and saw their massive visitor.

"You're quite skilled for your age, boy." Raidon remarked to the younger of the two red pandas.

The cub smiled a bit and turned to him, leaning forward respectively. "Thank you, sir," he said. "My _baba_ has taught me everything I know."

"Has he now?"

Koto came up behind his son, placing a paw on his shoulder, and looked up at their visitor. "Can we help you, sir?"

"Are you Captain Chen-Koto?" Raidon requested.

"I am," the elder red panda answered cautiously and immediately asked, "who would you be?"

"My name is Hao-Rui," the rhino lied. He kneeled and bowed his head in respect. "And it's an honor to meet the hero of China himself, Captain."

"Um, Sir?"

Raidon lifted his head to see the cub standing in front of him, staring at him in amazement of his size.

"Are you one of those guys that bodyguards the emperor?" the youngster inquired.

"Shifu," Koto again put a paw to his son's shoulder. "Bed," he reminded.

Young Shifu's ears lowered slightly, and, with an affectionate ruffle on the head from his father, the cub quickly hurried back for his room. Once he had left, the two adults turned to each other.

"Despite it coming from his sheer innate curiosity…" Koto smiled a bit and looked up at Raidon. "My son did bring up a reasonable question there."

"Well, I have worked my share in the Imperial Palace, Captain," Raidon admitted, and it wasn't a lie. He had led his men in through the palace gardens once or twice to attempt stealing from the emperor himself.

"Oh, dear…" Koto rolled his eyes with a smirk. "There will be no living with the boy now."

Raidon smiled conversationally. "Your reputation precedes you, Captain. Although I must say you are not what I expected you to be…"

"You're not the first to say that, sir," Koto reassured. "Now, may I ask why you're here?"

"…Well, His Majesty Yat-sen sent me."

Any vestige Koto held of a courteous smile fell off his face instantly. His large ears tilted back slightly in suspicion. "…Is that so? So you're from the palace, then?"

"Yes, sir," Raidon confirmed without hesitation.

"…Come sit down." Koto motioned towards a small table off towards the side of the training area. However, as he followed the red panda to the table, Raidon was aware of the captain's suspicions and prepared for things to get difficult. He glanced quietly out the window to his cobra cohort, who caught the signal in the rhino's slight nod and silently slithered off. Raidon turned back to the table and took a seat before it.

Koto calmly went to the opposite side of the table, but didn't sit down. He frowned deeply before speaking. "I am not a fool, sir," he glared. "If you were really who you say you are, you'd know that the Emperor has been away from the Imperial Palace for the last fortnight. He is not expected to return from Thimphu for another three days."

Raidon snorted slightly, looking a bit perturbed but not defeated. His dark brown eyes met with Koto's deep blue eyes and they stared at each other intensely.

After a moment of silence, a smirk crept up on Raidon's lips. He abruptly let out a hearty laugh and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I see there's no pulling the wool over your eyes, Captain."

"Indeed." Koto glared daggers at the rhino. His ears were pinned flat back against his head as he pointed his staff at Raidon's nose. "Now state your _true_ purpose," he ordered.

"Nor do you let your stature allow said wool to cover one inch of either two feet of you," Raidon smirked and nonchalantly pushed the staff away from his nose, standing. "You caught me…"

Koto watched as the rhino reached into the inside pocket of his tunic and pulled something out, holding it tightly in his fist.

"Captain Chen-Koto… I'd like to offer you this." Raidon held out his hand and opened it, revealing a necklace of black cord with a medallion of flint on it. It had been hand-carved from the rock itself into an ancient Chinese symbol. Koto recognized it as _chiang_, a symbol of power. "What?" He stared at the medallion incredulously. He looked up to take another look at Raidon, and noticed that the rhino had now undone the first few ties at the top of his tunic. A flint medallion identical to the one in his hand hung around his neck.

"The Ju-long Alliance?" He shot Raidon a glare. "You are requesting that I join the ranks of the Ju-long Alliance??"

"That has been what is anticipated," the rhino leader answered, with a slight curb to his voice that implied that rejection was not a well-received option.

Koto's ears flattened against his head and he didn't so much as flinch. "I would die before I ever put that medallion around my neck."

While not changing his facial expression, Raidon was clearly irked as his ears tilted back. "…Are you not aware of who I am, Captain?"

"You're the leader of Ju-long," Koto answered. "You're Commander Kun-Raidon, son of Commander Kun-Shao, the former leader of Ju-long. You're infamous for your recent assault on the village of Kuò-Lan."

Raidon smirked at the obvious irritancy he had noticed in the red panda's voice. "Seems like you've done your homework on us, Captain. Why is that? Have we intrigued you that much?"

Koto glared and made one swift leap, flipping and grabbing his bow staff from the table and landing in a poised fighting stance, bracing his bamboo weapon. "I've studied so much about the Alliance so that when I met one of its servants, I could _defeat_ him!" he corrected.

He was met by an instant and eager grin from the rhino, and a sudden wave of motion from the main doorway. Raidon's four lackeys – Kuai, the cobra; Lang and Gou, the two wolves; and Shan, the takin – all closed in to stand behind their leader. Koto tried to not let it show as he realized he was in the midst of a prearranged ambush.

Kuai stood poised to strike with his venom, Lang and Gou both wielded heavy iron maces, and Shan brandished a cat-o'-nine-tails. Koto glared and stood sharp as ever, but it was beginning to look like he didn't have much of a chance in the scenario.

Raidon stepped forward once more. "Now why don't we try this again?" He smirked and again held out his hand, offering Koto the flint medallion.

"Baba?"

Raidon and Koto both snapped their heads to the side to see young Shifu standing at the end of the hallway, staring incredulously at the scene before him. Having heard angry voices, he had come out of his room to see what was going on.

"Son, get back to your room," Koto warned, seeing things were about to get ugly.

Shifu looked at the two adults. "I was just…"

"Shifu, do as I say!!" his father ordered and rapidly turned to Raidon. While the rhino was distracted by the cub, Koto suddenly and without warning leapt and sent the medallion flying from Raidon's hand with a lightning-fast kick.

Raidon snarled and with equal speed dropped to all fours and swung his heavy head at the red panda captain, intent on striking him with his horn. In a flash, Koto sprung into action against the rhinoceros and did what he did best – display all explosive force and skill beyond his size. He back-flipped clear from Raidon and instantly turned to block a strike from Kuai, who had tried to bite him from behind.

Shocked, Shifu stood there a moment longer before turning and running as his father had ordered him to do.

"After the boy!!" Raidon commanded Lang, who instantly turned and raced on all fours down the hallway after the cub.

"_No_!!" Koto yelled and made a dash after him, but was quickly halted by Gou, who violently swung his mace at his head. Koto leapt out of the deadly weapon's way and quickly used it to swing himself up and strike the wolf with a hook kick to the jaw. The red panda then whipped around with his bamboo rod to find himself locking staffs with Raidon. Koto growled and gave the rhino a glare that could kill. "Raidon, I _swear_, if you so much as touch a single _hair_ on my son, I will outright--!!"

"Now, now, don't get your tail in a knot, Captain," Raidon smirked. "They won't hurt him without an order from me first."

Koto only gave him an acid glare before the two animals exploded into combat again.

Once in his room, young Shifu skidded to a halt and slammed the door behind him. His large ears twitched back at the sound of Raidon's wolf coming down the hallway. "Uh-oh…" he muttered to himself and looked around the room desperately for any means of escape.

Lang came tearing through the canvas of paper across the door and landed on all fours with a snarl. Upon entering, he was surprised to see not a single soul in the room. He looked around and raised his nose, trying to sniff out his prey. The boy was certainly in the room. Rising to his hind legs, he emitted a growl from his throat. "I know you're in here, ya little whelp…" he sneered, his yellow eyes darting back and forth across the room and his ears twitching at the slightest sound.

Someone should've reminded the red panda cub that wolves had a knack for smelling out fear. But whether it was due to this or the fact that the house's old wooden rafters were infamous for incessant creaking, young Shifu was ratted out within two seconds. Lang whipped his head up with a growl, looking straight up at the wide-eyed cub perched up in the rafters. Before Shifu could blink, the wolf sent his mace hurdling like a deadly baton right at him. The cub gasped and tumbled back, slipping off the rafter as the mace crashed straight through it. With a yelp, he fell from the rafter and landed right on top of Lang.

With a snarl, the canine furiously threw his head back and spun around to face the cub. Shifu stumbled back onto his haunches. The wolf growled and lashed his paw up, catching his mace in mid-air before swinging it down at the cub.

With barely any time to think, Shifu used the only thing he had to defend himself – the broken slab of wood that had torn off of the rafter in his fall. Quickly executing the block his father had just taught him, he thrust it out to block the strike of the mace.

He couldn't have been more surprised when it actually worked.

The cub's confidence took a leap and he suddenly felt brave. He quickly evaded another oncoming strike from Lang by ducking and slipping through his legs. In the process, he caused his makeshift staff to swing up, and let's just say the wolf was rendered silent for a moment. Shifu seized this moment to swing his staff at his foe's ankles, making him crash to the floor of his back.

Lang growled and countered the cub's attack, swinging his own arm out and knocking the boy's legs out from under him before leaping up to pounce. Before he knew it, Shifu found himself on his back with the wolf crouched straight over him, his tiny brown nose practically pressed against the big, wet, black nose of the fierce canine fighter. Any fragment of confidence he had just a moment ago was instantly diminished. Lang flashed a baleful grin at the small cub, keeping him pinned down by the shoulders with his huge gray paws. And just when things couldn't seem to get any worse, Shifu found himself in the premonitory presence of not one, but both of Raidon's wolves, who displayed their fangs in a collective sneer.

Koto had just taken down Shan with a swiftly-executed front snap kick to the takin's stomach when Kuai lashed at him with his jaws wide open. The red panda dug his heels into the floor and countered back in a flash. The cobra hissed and pushed, as Koto had literally caught him in mid-strike and was now holding his jaws pried open. The two warriors braced themselves and pushed as hard as they could, trying to overpower each other. Finally, Koto gave a yell and flung the snake to the floor before he knew what hit him. The red panda then made a dart for the hallway, desperate to find and protect his son.

However, at that moment, he caught motion out of the corner of his eye. Whatever it was, it was coming at him _fast_. With a slight gasp, he managed to backflip out of the object's path before it rasped across his face. Landing on all fours, the miniature captain finally saw the weapon right in front of his face, as it was now driven into the wall directly to the right of his head.

It was a sword – a rather huge one with a hilt forged of brass that was all but dwarfed by the double-edged blade before it. Both blades were made up of wrought iron, the smaller of them more like a dagger and the larger of them almost twice the length of its counterpart. Engraved across the saber-like, larger blade was a rampant green dragon that breathed fire from its mouth. Frills flowed like silk from its forearms and ran down the entire length of the sword. Koto was rendered speechless for a moment.

The Sword of Heroes was the last thing he had expected to see at that moment, let alone did he expect it to see driven into his wall a mere few inches from his face.

_**TBC…**_

_ACK!! Shifu is at the mercy of the wolves? And what the heck does the Sword of Heroes have to do with anything? This does not bode well!_

And now for a brief lesson in some Chinese (and Japanese) terms...

_Baba - "papa"_

_Gen Lai - "salute"_

_Xie Xie - "thank you"_

_Koto - "harp" (Japanese)_

_Raidon - "thunder god" (Japanese)_

_Kuai - "fast"_

_Lang - "wolf"_

_Gou - "dog"_

_Shan - "mountain"_

_Please R&R!_


	2. Let Go

Okay, some of you people may remember that I once made a Finding Nemo story called No Turning Back roughly based off of Don Blu

_First and foremost, special thanks to __**corset-rebellion-flower**__ and __**RenkonNairu**__ for reviewing my last chapter!_

_This chapter's a bit longer than the last – 12 pages! But, it does cover a lot of important ground in the process. Enjoy and pleeeeeease read and review! Reviews keep me going!_

_**Chapter 2: Let Go**_

Koto finally broke his stare from the Sword of Heroes when Raidon laughed from across the room. It had been him that had thrown the sword. "Nice, huh?" he grinned as he walked over. "I'll admit, yes, it was difficult to unvault the Jade Palace's ceiling hatch and rig a pulley from a mace and shield, but it was worth it."

Koto remained stunned as the rhino came and pulled the sword from the wall. "Unvault the ceil—You broke into the Jade Palace and stole it?!"

"Now don't sound so surprised, Captain," Raidon smirked. "You know us better than that – we're _thieves_?"

"That's a first-degree offense!" Koto growled.

"Translation, your honor."

The red panda scowled, snatching his bamboo staff off the ground. "You could be locked up for years for this if you were even _allowed_ to live."

"I'm not too worried," Raidon nonchalantly blew the wood dust off the tip of the sword.

"Raidon, I warn you, you do not know what that sword is capable of!"

"I have a hunch." Raidon gave the sword a few skilled swings that implied the Ju-long leader knew how to handle a blade. He cast a narrow-eyed simper over at Koto. "I understand you know how to wield a blade quite well, Captain. We could use a few additional swordsman…"

"_Over-my-dead-body_." Koto spat, emphasizing every word. With that, the red panda again turned to race down the hall and find his son. And once again, he was stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hey, Commander!!" Lang grinned at Raidon. The two wolves were standing in the hallway, and Gou was rather triumphantly holding a certain squirming red panda cub by the tail. The cub had tried to escape, but had soon discovered the disadvantages of having a long tail within the reach of malicious warriors with good reflexes.

Koto looked horrified. "Put him down!!" he yelled and darted at them.

But in the rapidly executed moment that followed, Raidon sprinted over, seized Shifu by the scruff of his neck, and swiftly brought the sword up dangerously close to his throat. The cub whimpered with his ears flat against his head, scared witless.

Koto skidded to a stop, and in one second had shifted from a fearless warrior to a terror-stricken father. "No, Raidon, don't!"

"So," Raidon sniggered, "the valiant Koto _does_ have a weakness." He took a step back, still holding the cub by the scruff of his neck and the legendary blade to his throat. "This means you have a choice, Captain… Will you give us your services…or your son?"

Shifu had drawn both his knees and his chin to his chest, and his eyes were shut tight as he let out a few animalistic whimpers.

"All right, Raidon." Koto stopped and held out a flat paw in a sign of forfeit. He laid his bamboo staff to the floor.

Raidon gave a satisfied smirk, allowing to blade to come just an inch away from Shifu. Lang approached Koto, holding the medallion. As the wolf outstretched his paw to give him the fateful item, the captain stared down at it. The flint had been freshly carved, for it still had the slightest gleam from being polished and it hadn't a single scratch on it. The Alliance had it made it especially for him in predicting his surrender, Koto knew.

Koto had almost touched the medallion when, in a juvenile and spirited key he knew all too well, he heard a "_Hyah_!!" Everyone in the room directed a shocked stare over to the source of the sound.

In a rare and fleeting moment of bravery, young Shifu had planted a firm kick straight to Raidon's gullet, where he had been taught was always a weak spot. The rhinoceros gave a gag and was taken aback just enough to lose his grip on Shifu. The cub dropped to the ground.

"_Run_, Shifu!!" Koto yelled.

At the bark of his father's voice, young Shifu clambered to his feet and scurried off. Lang was the first to act, snarling and sprinting on all fours for the cub. Koto charged into his path, bringing his staff down swiftly and striking the wolf on the skull. Lang gave a yelp. Koto spun around, only to be suddenly met with what seemed like thousand needles that instantly coursed pain across his entire body. Shan had knocked the captain aside with his cat-o'-nine-tails.

Recovering from the strike to his throat, Raidon snorted angrily and grabbed the Sword of Heroes. Leaping to his feet, he growled and flung it at Koto. This time, the red panda saw the blade coming and leaned back swiftly, allowing it to narrowly miss his head.

Shifu scampered as fast as he could for the wooden pillar on the other side of the room, quickly ducking behind it and gawking out to stare at his father in combat.

Things were getting fierce. Koto growled and made a hurdling leap for Raidon. He let out a furious yell as he flipped, landing the leap with a powerful kick to the rhinoceros's stomach. The force of it sent Raidon crashing back into the table.

With his bamboo staff, Koto vaulted himself off the ground like a gold medalist and barreled for the Ju-long leader. He was stopped dead in his tracks, however, when he felt Kuai's tail lash out and wrap around his ankle, yanking him down to the ground. Koto rolled to his back and lashed out with his staff to defend himself against the monocled cobra's bite, causing his enemy to get a mouthful of hard bamboo. Kuai gave a yelp as the red panda sprung up and flipped him over, pinning him hard to the ground with the staff against his scaly neck. Not a half-second passed before Koto lashed back and seized him by the tail.

Everything seemed to suddenly flow in slow motion like some dangerous dance as Koto gave a yell and whipped the snake around towards Lang and Gou. With blinding precision, he lashed him around the wolves in a tight bind before flicking them all back around in front if him. Releasing the cobra's tail, Koto leapt into a spinning blur and landed a solid blow that sent his three foes plowing into Shan. By the end of the fleet-footed maneuver, the red panda captain had cannoned through all four of his opponents.

"Shifu!" he called to his son and ran to him, seizing this one moment to say what needed to be said. The cub came out from behind the pillar quickly, and found they were both out of breath. "Listen to me," Koto panted, clasping a paw on the cub's shoulder. "We need to alert everyone in the Valley about this. I want you to get up to the roof as fast as you can and light the signal fire. Hide yourself, and no matter what," he looked his son in the eye, "even if something happens to me, you _stay hidden_, understand?"

Although terrified by the circumstances, Shifu nodded without a word. The moment that followed was three seconds that felt like three minutes. Koto could only hope and pray that he could hold off his five enemies until help arrived. He was fully capable of holding his own; anyone who observed him in combat for five mere minutes could tell that much was for dang sure.

But then the Sword of Heroes had to come in. Koto was wise enough not to underestimate its power, especially in the wrong hands. In the hands of evil, the sword became capable of insurmountable power. Few had survived against the sword as it was – for it to gain more force was an entirely new threat altogether.

From his years of experience on the battlefield, Koto had seen many of his men perish at the end of a blade. He had always stepped into a battle, knowing full well that there was always the chance it would be his last. Accompanying this knowledge was also a fear – not so much a fear of dying, but a fear of leaving his young and timid son behind as an official orphan. In addition to that, the circumstances were slightly different now, as the enemy had come to him rather than the other way around. The red panda captain knew that he very well might not be enough of a fighter against the sword, but as Master Oogway had always urged him to do with any challenge, he would rise to it and determine to return the sword – the invaluable relic that had seen generations of heroes come and go – to its proper place in the Hall of Warriors… Even if it meant his demise.

Shifu continued to stare at his father, muddled by the sudden silence between them. Koto's eyes seemed to betray at least a dozen emotions at once before he finally looked him in the eye and spoke up in a resolute yet somewhat sad voice.

"I love you."

He wanted to say more – both did, in fact. Shifu barely had any time to think, however, when his father suddenly and swiftly shoved him out of the way of the oncoming sword that gave a metallic clang upon striking the floor between them and scattered a few splinters.

"Go!!" Koto yelled, wincing under an attempted block against a strike from the cat-o'-nine-tails.

Clamoring to his feet, Shifu scampered out of the room and down the long passageway.

What the marauders had not been aware of before their ambush was that Koto was a master of his own style, combining expertise swordsmanship with the mastery of kung fu to create a fighting technique like no other. He gritted his teeth as he crossed weapons with Gou and came face-to-face with the snarling canine's ivories. The wolf twirled and thrust his mace for Koto's skull, which the captain evaded with a rapid side roll. Employing his swordplay skills, the red panda swung his bo staff around his head, striking Gou's mace and pinning it to the floor. A splitting hiss suddenly accompanied a brown blur as Kuai lashed himself around Koto's legs, tripping him.

Raidon stood calmly in the corner of the room with both hands rested upon the hilt of the Sword of Heroes and watched the fight of one against four. He didn't look too worried when he saw the valiant red panda captain skillfully roll out of the way of oncoming strikes and leap right back up into the fray without a reserve in the world. He would let Koto exhaust himself. It was only a matter of time now…

Shifu ran straight for the library in the front of the house. He pushed the hallway door open – with some difficulty – and darted for the hidden stairwell in the back corner.

With the assistance of his small size, Koto managed to dodge what would've been another painful strike of the cat-'o-nine-tails. He vaulted into the air, spinning into a whirl and landing a forceful stomp straight to Shan's nose, breaking it. The takin yelled and stumbled back.

But before Koto could even touch the ground again, Lang took a fierce swipe with his mace and clubbed the red panda captain hard in the side, sending him careening into Kuai. The cobra warrior rapidly looped his coils around the smaller animal, trapping him. Koto grunted and struggled to free himself as he felt the snake tighten his grip. Kuai flicked his tongue pleasantly and Koto could barely contain a shout of pain as his foe squeezed harder and harder.

Raidon rolled his eyes and shook his head with a sigh. "Stop," he raised his voice, causing each of the five pairs of eyes to stare over at him. The rhino approached them. "Let him go, Kuai."

The monocled cobra was clearly riled by the order, but bowed his head to his superior. "Yes, Commander…" he said with a husky hiss and obediently loosened his grip on Koto. The captain stumbled onto his hands and knees with a sharp intake of breath, coughing a few times.

Raidon's ear tilted back in thought as he watched Koto rise to his feet, and he could see that the red panda was pushing pain from his mind. The emperor had bestowed his honors on a worthy and strong-willed soldier, he'd give him that much. But strong-willed was not in the Ju-long leader's favor at the moment.

But if Koto wanted to play dirty, Raidon had no problem with that. The rhinoceros was the authority on playing dirty. He leaned towards Shan – who now sported a bloody and broken nose – to whisper a few orders out of the red panda's earshot. "You and the wolves guard the front door. When you see the boy again, chase him back here," the rhino glowered, "and kill him."

The takin gave a nod and snorted as he darted away to go to his post at the door with Lang and Gou. Raidon rested his hands back on the sword's hilt and turned to stare back down at Koto. The smaller mammal was back up on his feet, glaring at him.

"Are you really all His Excellency has to give me?" Raidon smirked. "Are you really the 'magnificent virtuoso of the battlefield' they say you are? The 'paragon of valor'?"

Koto narrowed his eyes as he discerned that the rhino was quoting what the emperor's groveling spokesman had said about him the day he and his troops had been honored at the Imperial Palace. Koto and his men never felt as if they deserved a word of it.

"They say that you possess all the grace and precision of the arrow in flight," Raidon continued. "And that you hold reflexes like lightning…" He snapped his fingers and lashed his hand out to the side. Kuai threw him one of Koto's swords from a rack by the wall. Raidon caught it neatly in his hand and gave it a skillful twirl before pointing the hilt towards the red panda captain, "when you wield your blade."

Koto knew this gesture to be an invitation to a duel. He again narrowed his eyes, glancing from the outstretched sword to Raidon's hostile gaze. What exactly was it that the rhino had up his proverbial sleeve? He had charged into the captain's home unwelcome, insulted his honor, _threatened_ his _son_, and now he wanted him to fight the Sword of Heroes?

"Don't keep me waiting, Captain…" Raidon droned.

While remaining quiet, Koto raised his head, positioned his ears front and forward, and didn't allow his eyes to break from the rhino's. He apathetically grasped the small sword by its hilt and pulled it out of the marauder's hand. He still didn't know what exactly Raidon was trying to do except patronize him. But he might be able to humor him long enough for Shifu to light the signal fire and for reinforcements to come and besiege the house.

The two warriors stared each other down for a long, intense moment. Then the bedlam ensued. Within a fraction of a second, Koto had lashed forward and the metallic clang of swords rang through the room.

Scrambling to the top of the stairs, Shifu opened the hatch. Throwing aside the wooden door, he found himself up on the roof of the humble house. He scurried over for the cause of his frenzy – a small turret right in the middle of the roof that housed a large pile of sticks and old cloth. Their house was one of many that had these on the roof as a part of a well-devised alarm system. He was going to make this quick. He'd set the pyre ablaze, and then the Valley would know of their plight and help would come.

In a holder high up on one of the turret's four pillars rested a lit torch. It didn't take Shifu too long to grasp how to reach it. The cub made short work of jumping and simply climbing up the pillar. And here the village elders told him that tree climbing was a silly waste of time and energy. The young red panda grasped onto the torch to yank it out…

But it was stuck.

He had forgotten all about the cloudburst that had drenched the Valley that very morning. Now was not the time for the wood to swell!

Below him, Shifu could hear the furious, metallic clanging of swords. And, although he had no doubt that his father was wiping the floor with Raidon's face, he still felt like he should hurry.

Koto gritted his teeth as his blade was struck out of his paw and sent flying to the other side of the room by the Sword of Heroes. The red panda found himself on his knees before the rhino marauder, completely unsheltered. Raidon brought his Sword down hard, but clearly missed as he suddenly felt Koto vault straight over his head and somersault down his arched back. By the time he had turned, his smaller opponent was facing him again, crouched like a spider with his retrieved sword in paw.

"Very impressive, Captain," Raidon furrowed his brow with a taunting grin. "His Majesty was right to revere you. Are you certain you don't want to reconsider your refusal to me?"

Koto leered and attacked again. Raidon was ready for him with a quick block followed by a furious thrusting swipe at his head. The red panda was much too fast for him as he leaped up and sailed into his opponent. The rhino swiftly leaned back, but gave a shout as Koto's blade slashed narrowly across his shoulder. Infuriated, the larger animal swung the Sword of Heroes around with such force that – although Koto managed to block it – it smacked him into the wall. He gave a yell as the overpowering strike of legendary blade finally cut straight through his own blade. He rolled swiftly out of the way just as the sword made a hole in the wall where his head had been a fraction of a second ago.

Shifu finally had to resort to pushing his feet against the pillar to try and dislodge the torch from its holder. The cub gritted his teeth and pulled. He then gave a yelp as his efforts finally paid off with his fourth tug, and both he and the torch stumbled off the holder. It was only when he could feel rough wood under his fingers that he realized he had stumbled into the pyre. Gasping, he leapt away. He stepped back as the woodpile quickly became engulfed in flames, then clambered back for the stairs in order to get back to see how his father was doing.

He then tugged at the hatch handle only to realize that, in his rush, he had closed it. _Big_ mistake. The door had been designed for opening only from the inside, lest a bandit tried to break in from the roof.

All right. Not to worry. He'd simply climb down, go through the front door like a normal being, and hide in the hallway. The cub raced over to a nearby tree and leapt into its branches. He quickly made his way down until his feet hit the ground.

"_Hee_-_YAH_!!" Koto ricocheted off of his foe after he had landed another solid roundhouse kick to Raidon's throat. Even with his weapon destroyed, the red panda was proving to be more than a match for the rhinoceros. This time, he sent the latter reeling into a rack of bo staffs.

Raidon glanced up with a fuming growl. He was just about at the end of his rope. He looked up at the captain, who was simply standing and waiting for him, his ears positioned low. The marauder's face then betrayed a quick change in mood as Raidon smirked. He stood with the Sword of Heroes in one hand and a bo staff in the other. He clutched both weapons in his fists and twirled them skillfully. His dark brown eyes glinted hungrily and a heavy snort emitted through his nostrils.

Koto knitted his brow at the Ju-long leader, his brown-tipped ears flattening against his head and his cerulean eyes narrowed. Clasping his paws into fists, the red panda captain assumed the horse stance, crouching with one fist set near his waist and the other outstretched before his face.

He wasn't going to try and fight his enemy with a staff or a sword anymore… He knew the one way he could hope to reclaim the sword from the Ju-long Alliance, and he was ready for his plan to take either a turn for the worst or the best.

Gritting his teeth, the rhino ripped forward with a primeval bellow and brought both weapons plummeting down. Koto wheeled in a rapid circle before clapping the bases of his palms together and thrusting them towards Raidon. A surge of energy burst through the room, knocking the larger mammal back long enough for Koto to charge headfirst into combat.

Stampeding through the front door, Shifu felt an immediate blast of hot breath on his neck. Before he could even process what was happening, he found Lang standing right in his path. But, the cub sprinted under the wolf's legs with the only impulse to run. With no other thought, he sprinted back for the training room.

Raidon whipped around with another swing of the sword to try and finally take down the red panda captain that was leaping all over the place like a possessed flea and trying to swipe the Sword of Heroes. Unfortunately for him, he had underestimated Koto's sheer speed, especially in his aerial attacks. The rhino growled. If those half-witted lackeys of his didn't herd that cub into the room within the next five seconds…

As if on cue, Shifu came hurtling in from the hallway, narrowly dodging Gou's jaws. Koto's attention was diverted by this for a fraction of a second, but it was enough time for Raidon to seize him by the front of his tunic and slam him into the nearby pillar. He let him drop to the floor, and the dazed red panda looked up to see the nightmarish sight of all five marauders charging straight for his tiny son.

Leaping up, Koto's feet hardly touched the floor before he went sprinting into the fray. Raidon saw him coming out of the corner of his eye and grinned balefully, twirling the sword in his hand to wield the hilt rather than the blade.

In his scramble, Shifu tripped. He hardly caught eye of Raidon raising the Sword of Heroes before his father tore into his path and leapt towards the rhino.

One second and three moves was all that the Ju-long leader needed.

He swung the hilt, cracking Koto hard across the leg and catching him off-guard.

_One._

He twirled the sword in his hand and grasped the hilt.

_Two._

He drew the sword back and swiped it at the red panda, slashing the tip of the blade straight and deep across his chest.

_Three!_

The valiant captain was on the floor.

"Baba!" Shifu yelped.

Koto sucked air through his teeth and barely managed to rise to his knees, grimacing from the vicious pain that now seared through his whole body. Raidon merely stood there and smirked triumphantly at the bleeding red panda. He knew as well as any warrior: The true path to victory is to find an opponent's weakness…and make him suffer for it. Koto's weakness for his son had been his downfall.

The rhino's moment was cut abruptly short when he suddenly felt as if he was holding a handful of glowing hot coals in his hand. He had barely registered this along with the slight smell of his burning skin before he gave a shout and dropped the scalding Sword of Heroes to the floor. He shook his hand, trying to rid it of the sudden burning sensation. Looking again at the blade, he saw that the green molding of the engraved dragon was doing something odd. It was glowing and dancing slightly in a way that made it look like emerald molten lava.

Confused and inwardly a little spooked, Raidon shook his hand again and glanced over at Shan. "…Pick it up," he commanded. Although looking a little unsure himself, the takin stepped forward and carefully leaned down to retrieve the sword. He had barely touched it before he too yelped and yanked his hoof back at the scorching sensation.

Raidon cast a glance down at Koto, who was staring at him with a forthright gaze… A gaze that communicated he knew something. The infuriated rhino swiftly reached down and grabbed the wounded captain by the throat, hoisting him forcefully up to eye level. "_What is the meaning of this?!_" he roared. He would've strangled the smaller animal to death right there and then had he not wanted an answer.

Koto grunted and caught his breath a few times before managing to answer. "Once…Once the s-sword draws bl…blood…" he choked out. "O-Only the p-pure…pure of heart can c-continue…to wi-wield it…" He shut his eyes for a brief moment before shooting a glare at the marauder. "Y-You'll…_never_ have th-that sword as long…long as the Jade Pa-Palace s-stands."

As he was now bordering a state of rage, Raidon's face was all but exploding with tics and twitches. Fuming, he slammed his victim into the wall so hard that this time it cracked the wood. Koto gave a suppressed a cry of pain at this. He could now tell that his leg had been broken from the blow of the hilt. "I oughta kill you…" the rhino growled huskily. "Look at you, _Koto_, you're nothing but a little white rat now," he snarled, tightening his grip. Koto coughed, trying desperately but futilely to loosen the larger mammal's iron grip on his throat. "You're helpless… But even now I'll give you one last chance." Raidon narrowed his eyes slightly. "The Ju-long Alliance possesses one of the best doctors in China. Join us now…and perhaps we can save your life."

Shifu stared, horrified at the scene before him. He wanted so badly to help his father in some way. But, after watching the lightning-fast move that had brought the elder red panda down, he was too petrified to move.

Koto grunted painfully, but still scowled at the rhino. "I-I would not be-betray the honor…m-my Emperor has entrusted me f-for any amount of…power or immortality in the world… And I wouldn't p-put it beyond you to s-save a life…o-only for the sake of c-corrupting it."

"I take that as a 'no'." Raidon's ear twitched in his fury. The Ju-long leader wasn't about to walk away empty-handed. Here Koto was, weak and bleeding with a broken leg…but the rhino wasn't satisfied. If he wasn't couldn't take the Sword of Heroes with him, he'd make the one who denied him of it suffer dearly. He shook his head. "It's a shame, really… You held such promise that I wouldn't expect from a rat."

He pinned the already fatally wounded red panda harder into the wall by his neck. It was in this fleeting moment that Kuai raised his head at Koto and hissed, his scaly hood in full extent and the venom almost dripping from his fangs.

The wounded warrior didn't get half a second. With almost unintelligible speed, the monocled cobra lashed out like a scaly brown arrow and sank his teeth into Koto's injured leg with deadly accuracy.

The bite was like being thrown and slammed into an iron maiden. The torrent of pain surged up Koto's leg and through his entire frame, threatening to release itself as a scream. But, while the captain could not hold back a pained cry through gritted teeth, he did not allow his mouth to open.

He could not scream. For his cub's sake, he could not scream.

Raidon grinned and finally released his grip on his victim, dropping him. Kuai's forked tongue flickered with complacency as he watched the red panda crumple to the floor.

Koto's head fell back against the wooden planks of the wall. He opened his eyes with some difficulty and blinked a few times. His vision was spinning, and he was barely conscious of the young red panda that had raced to his side and was frantically trying to make sure he was okay. This moment of vertigo was quickly accompanied by a sudden sensation that made him feel sick in the head.

His fate was sealed, he knew. It was only once he blinked a few more times that he could better make out the forms of his son and enemies in front of him. He glanced at Shifu, who looked to be beside himself with fear. "Shi…" he tried to speak.

A quick motion out of the corner of his eye caught his disoriented attention. Raidon had seized Lang's iron mace from his paw and was swinging the weapon up over his head, eyeing Shifu. The cub, too terrified to leave his father's side, stayed right where he was. "No!" Koto gasped and, although weak, quickly pulled Shifu in and brought his arm up as to shield his son from any strike if it came.

But, at that moment, there was the collective ruckus of drums beating, gongs ringing, and – soon after – people yelling from outside. "We're under attack!!" someone yelled out. "The signal's coming from the captain's house!!"

Upon seeing that his son had been successful in his efforts of alerting the village, Koto breathed a shaky sigh of relief and reached around to gently lay a paw on Shifu's head. "G-Good boy…" he whispered.

The five marauders were on alert, gripping their weapons readily.

"Th-They're on their way…" Koto informed them weakly.

Once he realized what had happened, Raidon's face twitched furiously. He wasn't leaving without some kind of trophy, and there was more than one way to skin a cat in his book. He threw the mace back into Lang's arms. He gave his followers the signal that it was time to beat feet out of there. But, before he went anywhere, he growled and shot his hand down to snatch Shifu out of his father's arms. He was mere centimeters from the cub when – with his last reserve of strength – Koto lashed out and seized the rhino's index finger between his tiny thumb and ring finger. He raised his pinky.

Raidon stopped himself. Even the Ju-long leader himself knew of the unspeakable power of the Wuxi Finger Hold. And, glancing up to Koto's face, the threat was very much the same and didn't need words to be expressed. Although the red panda captain was weak and fading, the message in his cobalt eyes was as clear as day.

_Hands off the boy or you're a dead man._

The captain had intended to keep Raidon in the deadly hold until his soldiers came to apprehend him. But, between the deep blade wound to his chest and the snake venom that was weakening him more by the second, it wasn't long before his hand dropped from his grip on the rhino.

The marauder got the final strike in, knocking the red panda to the floor with a hard blow of his fist before turning to leave. He swiped the rejected flint medallion off the floor and slipped out of the house after his minions, leaving the door hanging open.

Koto closed his eyes from where Raidon had knocked him onto his side, painfully dragging in a shaky breath. It was growing into a strenuous effort. Shifu quickly came back to his father's side, dropping to his knees. Only then did he see the blood stain on the front of Koto's robe where the Sword of Heroes had delivered its fatal blow. His fur was a mess from his brawl with the Ju-long warriors. His emerald-green robe, sleeves, and black sash were in tatters from exposure to the wolves' teeth and claws, he was covered in cuts and bruises from the impact of the maces and cat-o'-nine-tails, and his broken leg lay at an odd angle. It thoroughly scared the cub to see his father – the strongest, swiftest, and most indomitable fighter he knew – suddenly laying battered and crippled on the floor in front of him.

Shifu had opened his mouth to speak when he heard the oncoming sound of his father's soldiers racing towards the house. His nerves settled slightly. At least help was on the way.

"…Shi…fu…"

Koto's words were barely audible by now. His chest heaved in his struggle to keep breathing. He scarcely could open his glazed eyes to look at his son.

"Baba?" A twinge of hope came to the cub's chest. "I-I can hear Mr. Li and them coming, so you're gonna be o-okay now…" He paused, looking scared as his father gave a tight wince at his fierce pain. "…They can make you better…r-right?"

Koto kept his gaze on his son, but didn't answer his question. He had a thoughtful, distant gaze in his hazed eyes as they lowered to the ground for a moment. He was well aware that he was far beyond help at this point. As he glanced feebly back up at his cub, his words came with more strain than he'd ever experienced. "…Th-They'll…t-t-take you to…t-the Jade…J-Jade…Pa…" The captain gasped and fought his dying breath, but it couldn't be done.

He had achieved what he had set out to do. He had realized his military oath to guard the Valley at all costs, and his personal oath to protect his son with his life. Shifu would be taken to the Jade Palace and be under the ever-watchful, gentle eyes of Master Oogway. There was no one the red panda captain entrusted more with the task. His cub was safe.

So Koto let go.

Shifu stared at the still form, waiting for him to finish the sentence. His ears sank to the sides of his head with the dark realization that he refused to accept. His voice faltered as he tried to fight back tears.

"Baba?"

A moment of dead silence followed as young Shifu stared at his father, wanting so badly that somehow he would respond or at least open his eyes. It wasn't long before it became clear to the cub that his waiting was in vain.

"…Baba!!" he cried, tears flooding into his eyes.

_Baba!!_

Shifu's eyes opened with a start at the resonating cry of his child likeness in his head, his paws slapping back onto the gnarled tree bark behind him. After regaining his balance, the kung fu master collected his thoughts and took a look at his surroundings. He was standing in the branches of the old peach tree, right where he remembered coming out to only moments ago. A seemingly endless sea of stars and storm clouds hung over the vast landscape before him, where he could see the sleeping village nestled securely in the center of the valley. He could see the broad patterns of the local farmers' rice paddies fanning out like ripples along the outskirts of the town.

The aging red panda let out a breath and sat down, getting into full lotus position – as much as one could sit in the said position on a tree branch, that is. He had thought on that fateful day of his cub-hood countless times since it happened so long ago, but it had never come to him in such clarity and realism as it had just then.

It had been sixty years exactly – to the night – since Captain Chen-Koto had fought the Ju-long Alliance to his last breath. That's what Shifu was doing up in the branches at this hour of night. After his six students had all doused their candles for the night, he had taken the opportunity to seek solitude from curious eyes and had come out to the place where he could take in his newfound sense of peace, reflect on the better memories of his past, and could sit and – in a sense – talk to his father.

This was something he had done in some form or another on this particular day every year since Koto's death. Shifu had heard it said that the earliest years in a child's development is the most impressionable; this the kung fu master had no difficulty believing. Though he had been very young when his father died, he lived by everything Koto had taught him, whether it spoke of physical combat or moral values. It was not a stretch to say that he was the person he was today considerably because of his father's influence. Koto's words had that power of sticking to one's mind once they were spoken.

Shifu also had taken note of how much he'd come to look, speak, and act like his father. Even Oogway himself had mentioned a few times, with his signature smile, that it was almost as if Koto had never left. And no one had known Koto more. The old tortoise had known and trained him since the captain's adolescence. He had been there when Koto fell in love, when he was married, and when the flustered young red panda was struggling to remain calm and perform his breathing exercises only days before his son was born.

Now having a hard time performing his own breathing exercises, Shifu allowed himself to open his eyes. He glanced down at the very small and very young peach tree sapling growing beside its elder companion. It was only about a year and half old, but already it was stretching out twigs that would stiffen into branches within a few more years. Shifu halfway couldn't believe all that had happened since Master Oogway had caringly tucked the peach pit into the earth. The unveiling of the Dragon Warrior and the defeat of Tai Lung had brought a newfound serenity to the Valley, as well as to Shifu himself.

That was something else that Shifu had always come to the peach tree to do – think. More often than not on this particular day, it was to think on what had happened in the span of the past year. Whether it was an explosive rise in one of his student's abilities or the onslaught of a terrible drought, it had all passed through Shifu's mind as he stood on that cliff. One year it had been to think on young Tai Lung's accomplishment of mastering the last of the 1,000 scrolls, the very next year it had been to think on what he could've done to prevent the choleric snow leopard from devastating the Valley and falling into the chained enslavement of Chor-Ghom Prison.

Though the old red panda had actually begun to genuinely smile and had allowed himself to have a bit of a sense of humor, the thought of his estranged son still hung over him now and then. Even when the snow leopard had had him pinned into the floor of the Jade Palace by his throat, Shifu had never stopped loving Tai Lung. But he also knew that in order to protect the Valley from the threatening darkness, there had been no choice but to destroy the vessel that carried it. From this, Shifu's heart was still in the course of healing.

During his explosive fight with Tai Lung not but a year ago, Shifu had been sure that his life was at its end, and he was willing to accept it. He had leapt into that battle with the full knowledge that he could never truly destroy his son. His students had learned well and were masters in their own right. He had lived by the legacies of Oogway, Koto, and all of the great masters before him. And – even if it, at the time, seemed to be one big mistake – a young and somewhat physically inept panda had taught him a thing or two about living. And if it had really been his time, he would've gone just like his father had so many years ago… He would not be afraid to die.

Had help come not but a second later, Tai Lung would've landed the fatal strike to his former caretaker with his claws, and that would've been the end of it. Shifu was indebted to Po. Not only had the young panda saved his life, but he also had brought a sort of new life to the everyday routine of his master and fellow students. The seven residents of the Jade Palace had become a lot more like a little family. Comradely verbal jabs became a norm around the bunkhouse, and training drills sometimes wound up with Po on the ground, succumbed to a ruthless tickle attack from his five fellow fighters.

Shifu had even begun to join his students in the kitchen at mealtimes, a far cry from what he had always done in the past. He had always eaten his meals alone, either in his room or in the front garden. He had to admit – the Dragon Warrior was a superb cook as well as an increasingly good fighter.

Po seemed to have three identities around the Valley these days, in fact. He was the famous and still somewhat awkwardly accepted Dragon Warrior, the official cook of the Jade Palace, and then he was just simply Po the panda. The guileless bear was a hometown hero in every sense of the phrase. That cub trapped in a warrior's cloth shoes had given them all more than the small master ever would've given him credit for… He was about to find out how much more.

_Plop._

Shifu blinked out of his thoughts at the feel of something cold on his nose. He looked up to gaze into the sky through the bare branches above him. The storm clouds had quickly clustered together to block out the stars and he could tell that the temperature had dropped a bit. Soft thunder rolled in the distance, and – within the span of a few seconds, one raindrop had become several.

The aging red panda knew it wouldn't be too long before the skies would begin releasing water in snowflakes rather than raindrops. The cold season usually came literally overnight in the valley, and the inhabitants would wake up to be met with sudden, slushy snow patches in the streets. The only warnings they ever got of this were the cold rain showers that came a few weeks prior. It was one of these that Shifu found himself in at the moment. He took this as a signal to proceed to the Hall of Warriors, the second and final destination of this personal, annual custom. He began deftly climbing down from branch to branch. He had come prepared for the cloudburst, as his lantern and his straw rain cape were waiting for him with Oogway's staff at the base of the old tree's trunk.

Shifu quickly placed a cap over the top of the lit lantern, so as to protect its candle from being doused by the rain. He hung the delicate, red silk orb from the top of the staff. He draped the straw rain cape over his shoulders and tied the straps at the front to secure it. At this point, the thunder was louder and the rain was coming down in a near downpour. Quickly grabbing his makeshift lantern pole, the red panda ran out from under the semi-protective cover of the barren peach tree.

He began running up the stone steps through the gardens that led to the Jade Palace. Halfway up, a strange gut feeling caused him to stop. Turning around, he glanced up at the gray sky, not really paying attention to the cold rain and wind that bit at his face.

He felt that something wasn't right… Like something worse than a storm was hanging over the Valley…and over the Jade Palace. His sixth sense wasn't quite as strong as Oogway's had been, but Shifu had come to learn that instinct was an invaluable possession that shouldn't be ignored.

But, he also knew that standing in the rain like a fool was something one did not need a sixth sense to know to avoid. With a quick shake of his head to extrude the water that had collected on his ears, the kung fu master continued through the rain for the shelter of the Jade Palace.

_**TBC…**_

_Heh-heh, yeah… That something "hanging over the Valley" won't actually be revealed until the actual story gets up, sorry to say… I also don't think that China gets rain before the winter, because that's when the dry monsoon occurs… And I've just been informed that its called a "bo staff" and not "bow staff"… And that the kiai is a shout of focus rather than of effort…_

_Stay tuned, 'cause in the next chapter, we learn why Shifu's going to the Hall of Warriors and the story of how he first met Oogway! Yayz! Again, please-oh-please review!_


	3. Ripples

_I DID IT!! Okay, I'm leaving for Costa Rica in just a few hours, but I was bound and determined to get the next chapter up before I left. If you'll notice, the story has currently become a four-part fic. Which means we're not done yet, tee-hee! It was only a few days ago that I got the idea to include the scene which this chapter is named for. I hope this chap doesn't appear rushed or anything, 'cause I felt like I needed to expand a bit more on Koto's character… So this is more of a peek at Shifu's cubhood prior to coming to the Palace.  
_

_I thank everyone who's reviewed my story so far, I really appreciate all your comments! I'll be back Tuesday night!_

_Enjoy!_

oOoOo

_**Chapter 3: Ripples**_

By the time Shifu was nearing the Palace, he had decided that it wouldn't kill him to sew a hood onto his rain cape. Whenever his fur thickened itself for winter and somehow got damp, he smelled like a wet dog. Not only that, but whenever he dried off again too quickly, his fur got so bushy that he looked like a Persian White. He was probably the only one in the Valley that could say that they smelled like a dog and looked like a cat every time it rained. This, Shifu preferred not to advertise.

Finally walking underneath the protective overhang in front of the palace, the drenched red panda leaned his lamp pole against one of the dragon-embellished pillars and gave his head a shake, once more sending several drops of water flying off. He took off his rain cape, shaking it as well so as to not drip on the floor of the Jade Palace.

Once he was void of every drop of rain he could manage, he pushed open the heavy doors. In the dark of night – with the addition of a raging storm – the palace was like a shrine of shadows. The only lights present were the ever-glowing hues of green, blue, and aqua that reflected off of the still surface of the Moon Pool and created a permanent beam of light that stretched all the way to the ceiling.

The pool, however, was not Shifu's reason of coming by any means. The kung fu master padded down the polished jade walkway in the center of the palace. He kept his attention mainly on the west wall, where – like on the east wall – several paintings hung. Each one was a depiction of the bravest warriors and the greatest figures of kung fu history. Each of these heroes had their own section of the wall, and most of them had candles and some sort of relic of significance to stand before the aforementioned paintings.

Shifu continued his way down towards the end of the hallway, lifting his lantern to glance at the paintings as he passed. General Shao-Han, Master Frog, Master Bull, Commander Wolf_… _The aspirations of Shifu's cub-hood had revolved around these heroes' individual stories.

He reached the last two scroll paintings and slowed to a stop. The first of the two was Master Oogway. The last scroll – Shifu's aim – was tucked back a bit out of the light to the point that the aging red panda had to raise his lantern up a bit more.

The cerise glow from the silk orb revealed the painted scroll hung carefully from the wall. Shifu looked up upon the focus of the painting – a red panda with dark brown-tipped ears and clothed in a robe of emerald green standing under a vermillion evening sky and atop a grassy cliff. The robe was fastened with a black sash around the waist, the two ends of which fluttered in an unseen but present wind. The elaborate brushstrokes of the watercolors depicted a rampant gold dragon stitched onto both black cuffs of the robe. A third golden dragon – this one much smaller – was stitched on the front of the robe around the area of the heart. The warrior stood leaning into the wind in a full hunting cat stance. Both of his arms were held out straight to the sides and his steadfast gaze was directed straightforward. Three Chinese symbols were written in the upper right-hand corner of the scroll: "honor, simplicity, courage". Carefully set before the painting, on a small rack surrounded by an incense dish and small white candles, was a familiar-looking bamboo reed flute.

Setting the lantern pole against the nearby pillar so that he still had some light, Shifu walked forward and reached for the incense stick. The moment he lit it and set it into its dish, the clean, refreshing scent of sandalwood filled the entire hallway.

The kung fu master stepped back and seated himself on the jade floor. He eyes wandered from the painting of Koto to the bamboo flute – the very same one he had played so many times before, and the very same one he had seen his father take to the heads of Lang and Gou the night of his murder. Whether he was using the reed as a flute or as a weapon of combat, Koto performed it all in grace.

It was one of the few things of his father's that the red panda master had left – and it was, in truth, about as old as he was. Once Shifu had officially taken Oogway's place as Grand Kung Fu Master and had inherited the tortoise's staff, he had decided that it was finally time for the bamboo flute to lie to rest with the soul that had so caringly crafted it.

Koto had been a man of several temperaments. He had always been a very strict individual that demanded respect and obedience from his son and his soldiers alike. If either ever failed to follow orders, it was met with severe punishment. Shifu recalled firsthand that his father would not hold back from administering a beating if necessary.

But, just like the kung fu katas he had practiced all his life, Koto could be fierce and gentle at the same time. Despite his austere nature, he wasn't cold and ruthless as some had made him out to be. He also knew that raising a young and naive cub was a far cry from directing an army.

To his young son, Koto had been nothing but the ideal warrior: brave, dexterous, swift – the list went on. But the reality was that the captain of the Chinese army was a troubled man at his core, striving to do his best in spite of it. Shifu's mother had been lost to the talons of three Mongol Eagles, and the toddler cub himself might've suffered the same fate had Koto not whisked him narrowly out of the way of a fourth Eagle's razorlike grip.

Koto could never forget all that careened through his mind and soul in that single moment with his cub shielded under his arm on one side and the Eagle speared at the end of his sword on the other… To think that he had been literally an inch from losing his son as well as his wife – from losing everything in the world he held dear.

It broke the young father's heart for his son to have experienced it. Shifu hadn't understood what had happened and why _ma mi_ had disappeared without a trace. After that day, Koto decided that his son would benefit from beginning his training early on. So, at the tender age of three when he had finally gotten a handle on speech, Shifu started learning the most basic of punches, blocks, kicks, and stances from his father. As he grew older, it became clear that the cub had a natural aptitude for kung fu. Not only was he good at it, but it would quickly became a passion he'd carry with him for the rest of his life.

When he wasn't training and learning the proper conduct of a kung fu warrior, Shifu recalled being a surefire and typical "tough little boy"…at least part of the time.

Between that and the frenetic spirit he'd only learned how to harness once he was older, he could only imagine that he constantly sent his father on the brink of a stroke. But, he had learned early on that when his elders spoke him to, he had best listen and obey.

However, there were times when even Shifu had had his 'Tom Sawyer moments' – usually when his peers goaded him into it. He had had three playmates that lived throughout the village that Koto allowed him to play with a short time every day.

Shifu had been, fittingly, the self-proclaimed leader of the group. Benjirou, the otter pup, was quite the little scamp; mischievous, brazen, and rambunctious. Taplo, the little Chinese goral, could be just as mischievous – but was mainly a very sweet and silent kid. And, at times, there was also Lin-Lin – a little raccoon girl who had something of a crush on Shifu. She was slightly younger than the boys, but – although sometimes begrudgingly – they looked out for her like a little sister, lest they found themselves in a bad situation.

It wasn't that Shifu and his friends always went looking for trouble… But rather – like it happens for all young boys with a pulse – trouble always found Shifu and his friends. One such example of this had been when the four friends had made an unfortunate run-in with two bullying piglets slightly older than themselves.

It had been bad enough when they had started mercilessly picking on Lin, and this had been where Shifu had stepped in to defend the little raccoon. Unfortunately, his fervor and the additional three inches he had on Lin didn't sway them in the least.

The proverbial camel's back broke, however, when one of the piglets made an insult on Koto, directly followed by one towards Shifu's size. The cub then proceeded to show the piglet that he was a perfectly capable size…red panda style. Sure enough – a rapid sweep kick, a punch, and an excruciating arm lock later – the young pig became convinced. And, like the pals they were, Shifu's friends only egged the cub on to continue and give the bully what for. Unfortunately again, this was the point when the second piglet decided he was going to get involved in the discord.

Shifu's first one-on-two fight was an impressive display for his friends to see…. But this did not apply to everyone who took note of it. The cub's fulmination was only interrupted when a strong hand grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and a stringent voice ordered him to stand down. Koto managed to pry his son away from his quarry and curb any further combat between the two parties. Shifu's friends and the two piglets were quick to take off when the captain ordered them to return to their parents. He then shot a glare at the red panda cub beside him.

"Home," he demanded, turning for the road with his son trailing behind.

Koto didn't say a word the entire way home, which was downright torturous to Shifu. He hated it when this happened. He would've rather wished to endure being scolded and yelled at than having to face his father's stone-cold silence. Koto only continued down the road, carrying his reed behind his back, staring heavily forward, and walking with the slightest uneven gait from a mending battle wound. Once they did arrive home, the cub half expected that he would be told to go retrieve the switch from the front closet. He was a bit confused when Koto turned away from the three small wooden steps that led up to the house. He instead made his way for the tea tree nearby.

From under the tree, one could see the Zongxian River glittering a mere stone's throw to the south. At this particular time of day, hues of pink and gold began to overtake the blue skies. Dappled light poured through the treetops, spotting the ground. The thrushes were beginning to bed down for the night in the trees, their songs dwindling down to soft twitters.

Shifu watched his father finally come to a stop underneath the shade of the branches. Dipping into the shadows, he appeared as nothing but a silhouette set against the golden glittering of the river. Still turned away from his son, Koto pulled the reed from behind his back and gracefully gave it a few rapid twirls in front of him. Brandishing it like a sword, he then spun it to a stop and laid it on the ground beside the tree. He had no use for it right now. It was in these times that Koto willingly put aside his sword, his rank, and his dignity, all to take the moment to be a father.

Shifu slightly fidgeted, however, when the elder red panda then turned to look at him with a frown and broke the silence.

"Shifu," he ordered in a composed but authoritative tone, "come here now."

The nervous cub came forward after only a second's hesitation, his ears hung inadvertently low. "…Sir?' he spoke up in a quiet voice.

Casting a glance over towards the river, Koto closed his eyes briefly and sighed. He couldn't be too hard on the kid; he was only five. Still, Shifu knew better than most his age. "When I returned from the _kwoon _today, the last thing I ever expected to see was my son openly attacking someone. I'd like an explanation of this."

Shifu's eyes lowered to the packed earth beneath their feet, not really quite sure where to begin.

"Those boys you were fighting," Koto got right to the point, "did they threaten you or hurt you or any of your friends?"

"No, sir…" the answer came quietly.

"Did they _try_ to?"

This response was even quieter to the point that Koto couldn't quite make it out.

"Speak up," he enjoined in a mildly stern tone.

"… I said no, sir…"

"Then I'd like to know what made you decide that attacking them was the right choice."

Shifu wanted to disappear into the ground. He could feel his father's deep blue eyes on him, and it made him squirm. He did, however, glance up at Koto to read the look on his face.

It was that look that said: "Think well before you answer. Lie or tell the truth, it's your choice. But you know what would result from either path." Shifu knew he couldn't lie to his father. He _didn't_ like to lie to his father.

The cub proceeded to spill the beans as fast as he could. "They were pickin' on Lin and I tried to stop 'em and they made fun of you and called me a runt and…" He paused, his ears dropping a bit lower. "…Th-That's when I jumped 'em."

Koto let out a breath. "So your only method of dealing with the problem was hostility."

"H-He insulted our honor, Baba!" Shifu reasoned. "He said you were—"

"What he said is of no consequence," Koto snapped in a peremptory tone. "Honor is not regained by brashness. An opponent's mere words do not give us the right to demean ourselves to their level and allow ourselves to lose self control, Shifu, you _know _that!!"

The cub cringed slightly under the grating growl of his father's shout, his ears flattening against his head.

But it would be the only time in the conversation that Koto would raise his voice. He sighed. "…Come with me," he said quietly, walking over to the edge of the river.

Shifu wasn't quite sure what to think of this, but obediently followed his father. He watched as Koto reached down and picked up a small, smooth river rock. He turned to his cub and dropped it into his tiny, furry paws. "This stone is like all those words that boy said to you, son. Now," he motioned towards the river, "go put it in the riverbed."

Huh?

Although confused, Shifu did as he had been told. He crouched by the riverside and carefully placed the stone into the water. It sank the shallow distance down to the riverbed without a sound.

Shifu looked back up at his father, who shrugged. "Where are the ripples?" Koto inquired.

His son looked back down to the water. "There aren't any, Baba… I didn't drop it hard enough."

"All right," Koto nodded and came forward, kneeling beside him. "Look," he picked up another river rock pretty much identical to the one Shifu had just dropped. "The same size, the same shape…the same spoken words. Now, I want you to throw this one, okay? Give it a little force this time."

Shifu held out his paw and received the small stone, climbing to his feet to get a good throw in. The moment that stone departed from his fingers, it flew nearly the entire width of the river, landing in the water with a heavy and hollow splash. Ripples instantly fanned out from the epicenter of the broken surface and pulsed across the water. Upon seeing this, the cub's face brightened and he looked back at Koto for approval. "Look, Baba, the ripples!"

"I see," Koto had to smile at the fervor and excitement on his cub's little face. He stepped forward and picked up another rock, aiming it towards the river. "Your mind's like the surface of this water, Shifu… People may say things to provoke you or make you mad, but you still control how those words will affect you. You can allow them to just drop and sink to be forgotten…"

Shifu watched as the stone, like the others, soared through the air to plop into the water. Another set of ripples.

"…Or you can allow it to break the surface and anger you." Koto looked down at his son. "…A stone can only break the water's surface if it's thrown into it. And words can only impact you if you give them that force."

The cub glanced to the ground in that manner that Koto recognized as dawning guilt. "I…was just tryin' to take care'a Lin… You said that was what we're supposed to do… To protect the soft and weak from the hard and strong."

Koto smiled to himself. He knew that Lin rather fancied Shifu, and he had to remind himself that the priorities of a child were plenty different from any other – that a bully really did classify as a force of evil.

"It's good that you were willing to protect her, son," he pointed out. "But you shouldn't inflict harm on anyone unless he has tried to hurt someone himself. It is not our place to start unnecessary violence. Our place is to protect, Shifu."

"I know…" Shifu lowered his ears farther. "I'm…I'm sorry! I-I just got so—"

"Angry… I know," Koto said, his tone understanding. "As do we all. But a warrior must control his impulses as well as his anger," he explained, trying to be as monosyllabic in his justification as he could. "Anger is a dangerous weapon, son. It can poison the mind and a poisoned mind can lead to a darkened heart. And a darkened heart can all too easily lead to suffering."

If only Shifu had known how truly that one statement would be behind the longest, hardest 20 years of his life.

"A stone doesn't stop at breaking the water's surface," his father continued. "…The ripples it leaves behind grow and expand. Anger does the same if it isn't bridled." He paused. "…Understand?"

Shifu nodded quietly.

"…Well, now that you know this, I expect you to obey it," Koto added in a mildly strict tone. "And if it happens again, I will not be nearly as lenient, am I clear?"

"Yes, sir," Shifu answered honestly.

His father nodded. "Good boy." He retrieved his bamboo staff and began to lead his son back into the house. "…I'll tell you what…" he spoke up, pointing out the dust-laced fur his son had earned during his fight. "If you go on and get a bath now, we can start on _wing chun_ tonight."

_Wing chun_ was a close contact style of kung fu that required – almost entirely – only the hands and the arms. To the untrained eye, it looked like some crossover between a slapping fight and a deadly game of cat's cradle. But it was, in truth, a lightning-fast and potentially dangerous practice that tested a fighter's wit, speed, and reflexes. The captain drove a hard bargain here that Shifu assented to with only a small deal of reluctance. The cub was just grateful he had been spared a spanking this time.

Shifu recalled, however, that he hadn't been let off the hook for his shenanigans so easily. The very next day, Koto had given him a couple of extra chores to do in the time he normally went to play with his friends. That was his father's creed – patient and just, he praised honesty and punished disobedience. There wasn't much compromise in that area. And to Koto, failure was not a bad thing. Shifu could remember the countless times when his form was off by a little or he couldn't get a move quite right. His father had always remained patient and understanding in guiding him, reminding him that every time he did essentially 'fail' a technique, he only learned a little more on how to do it correctly.

Even when Shifu had been at that point of wanting to quit and – at a very young age – on the verge of tears, that same gentle answer would come in that same voice. That rasping, calm timbre that was braided into Baba's every word.

"Try again."

Ever the eager cub, Shifu would try again. _Fall down seven times and get back up eight times…_ Koto would say that, but only once he grew older did the cub understand it. Although it had driven him to the point of frustration many times, Shifu was grateful that his father had pushed him to persist.

Coming out of his thoughts for a moment, the old kung fu master finished lighting the candles and looked once more up at the painting of his father. His eyes rested on the captain's badge

The golden dragon he had seen always stitched on the front of Koto's robe was a symbol that every soldier in the Chinese army wore. The dragon's elongated, lion-like body was folded elegantly with its tail curled ever just so it encircled the area where its wearer's heart beat beneath the skin. Though always covered with armor during battle, it was a pledge of honor for all who donned it. It symbolized the courage of the lion and the heart of the dragon. No small number of Koto's soldiers showed both on the battlefield.

Koto had dedicated nearly his entire life to protect others – whether he knew them personally or not. He was a mother _and_ a father, a student, and a captain, as well as a trainer to his son.

Training with his father was, for the cub, a learning experience like no other. "Move like you are the only force in the universe," he had always told Shifu. "Flow into the rhythm of your environment."

Shifu had never really understood this until he had first seen it for himself. There had been many times when he had stood in the hallway or the back or the room and had watched his father in the middle of a kata, which he always executed like a furious and spellbinding dance. What had always amazed the cub the most, however, was how Koto could move so swiftly and so fiercely, yet also so silently. The only sounds that ever came out of these moments was the slight _whoosh_ of his hands cutting through the air, the faintest padding noise of his feet against the wooden floor, and the gentle breathing of the warrior himself.

Other times, when he was facing a training implement such as the Five-Arm Adversary – very similar to the devices Mantis favored – Koto would take on a much more intimidating ploy, shouting and growling as he struck, dodged, and flowed into the motion of the wooden arms with aggressive speed. And, just when he took a finalizing strike at one of the arms and Shifu could've sworn that something was about to go flying across the room, Koto stopped his hand a mere two centimeters from its target.

The cub had always been curious as to what his father's daily and rigorous training was like to experience. But in the Valley, kung fu training was a secret practice in which visitors were hardly allowed to observe. The students could not afford to be distracted at all during drills, so it was usually a matter of business with Master Oogway when someone paid a visit. So Shifu never did get to see the training hall until he had actually become a student himself.

Whenever Koto had been off training at the Jade Palace, Shifu had always remained at home with his tutor, Master Xue – a gray goose with very impressive eyebrows that danced with any change of expression from their master and always extracted a smile of amusement from the red panda cub. Xue had arrived at the house with his scrolls and treatises every morning, since he first began teaching Shifu at the age of four, and taught the cub everything from calligraphy to reading and history.

Shifu was, all in all, a good pupil. He knew that not many other boys his age got to learn much more than how to read. Yet despite Koto's position as a commanding officer, the captain would not indulge himself on any pleasure his soldiers couldn't. Shifu had been raised to know the value of humility through it, and his schooling was the one exception his father had made in this. And, although Shifu was overall a good pupil, the best of his attention always went into learning about the warriors of old. Because of both his father and Master Xue, he was very well versed in the tales of Master Flying Rhino, Master Frog, Master Bull, and several others. He had also learned about the masters his father trained alongside of, such as Master Baojia the lynx and Master Eri the ibis.

Someday he'd train alongside them, in this the little cub had great confidence.

"You will make it to the training hall all in good time, Chen Shifu," Xue had always told his young student, before reminding him to direct his focus back to his history lesson.

Though he was sometimes a very serious and stern schoolmaster, Xue had had a soft side that Shifu had seen only once before – on the night of Koto's death.

Not long after he had watched his father die right in front of his eyes, a small band of Koto's soldiers and assistants had run into the room. None of them had expected to come into such a scene as what laid before them: racks of training equipment destroyed, wood splintered from cracks about the walls and columns, the Sword of Heroes lying unceremoniously on the floor, and – with a tiny, bawling cub clinging to him – the lifeless body of Captain Chen-Koto.

Certain images from that night were still so vivid in Shifu's mind – the blood stain on his father's robe that made the green burlap suddenly appear brown, the hole in the wall where Raidon had nearly run Koto through, and the grief on the soldiers' faces as they kneeled and bowed their heads to honor their fallen captain.

Shifu refused to let anyone pull him away from his father. Even with gentle touches and words of comfort, the soldiers could not coax him off of Koto's tattered sleeve. The poor cub hardly knew any of them, and was much too upset to cooperate.

Master Xue had heard the alarm rise and, within moments, had hurried over to see what had occurred at his employer's homestead. Like everyone else, he was nothing short of horrified. His heart welled with sympathy and, when he tried to lend a wing into coaxing Shifu away, the goose suddenly became the center of the universe and found the sobbing cub clinging to the robes of his tunic like his life depended on it.

But what else could Shifu do? He'd just seen his father murdered, his home destroyed, and his teacher's was the only live and familiar face he had to go to in this nightmarish hour. It was something he'd never have done in the past, but at that moment, Shifu's childish vulnerability had hit him hard. Xue seemed a little taken aback at first, but the affection for the boy that he had otherwise hidden soon took over. He draped a wing over the shaken cub as Shifu forced himself to watch two palace geese approach his father.

They carefully lifted Koto's lifeless body onto a stretcher. It was when they draped a sheet over him that it just became too much for his son. Shifu resumed to clutch his tutor's robes in his little fists and hide his face in them. The palace geese lifted the stretcher and carried the fallen captain off to prepare him for an honorable burial.

After a few minutes, the Sword had been taken away to be cleaned. Part of Master Xue's robe was damp with tears. Shifu was not much more than a ball of fluff, still clinging to the old gray goose, sniffling, and now hiccupping a bit.

Once the boy had calmed down some, another palace goose – one of Koto's personal assistants – approached them and looked down at Shifu. "Gather your belongings, little master," he gave a small smile. "We must be off to the Jade Palace."

The aging kung fu master opened his eyes to stare at the flickering flames surrounding his father's bamboo reed. It hadn't even so much as passed through his mind that fateful night – or any other day of his cubhood, for that matter – that he'd grow up in the Jade Palace and become _the_ heir of the founder of kung fu. Him, the Grand Kung Fu Master… It still boggled that puerile corner of Shifu's mind that had nearly tucked itself away into nonexistence.

He stood long enough to approach the flute. Humbly bowing his head to the painting of his father, he took up the old reed into his paws and once more sat down on the ground. Lifting the reed to his lips, he began to play a slow, silvery melody.

He'd always played the same song every year on this night as a memorial to his father. It was a tune Koto had played many times himself. The unuttered lyrics spoke of the changes in life being like the changing of seasons – that it came with its own storms and winds and good harvests. Sometimes the changes were abrupt, and sometimes they were gradual.

For Shifu, the seasons had come and gone many times and with all manner of changes. As a small cub, he'd always thought he'd carry on his father's work as a military officer. Had Koto not been killed at the time he did, Shifu might've been leading the Chinese army by now. But Oogway had helped him realize, early on, that his talent and passion lay in teaching those younger than him.

And still, there had been so much that could've happened, so many paths that Shifu's life could've wandered down in that one night. What if Raidon had succeeded in stealing him from his father's arms? Koto still would've died from the lingering of Kuai's poison, but also the lingering of terrible dread and fear for his son. And Shifu would've most likely been a heartless warrior with the blood of a thousand innocents on his hands by now… That is, if he had been kept alive.

Or what if Koto had, in the attempt to save his son from death, accepted the medallion and joined the Alliance? Shifu still would've been taken to live at the Palace, but would've never been allowed to see his father again and would've been forced to live every day wondering if he was dead or alive. And God only knows what Koto would've been forced to do up until he perished by sword or the decay of time.

But life, with its nefarious nature of constant twists and transfigurations, had brought him here of all places. He was practically thrust into adulthood that night he was first led to the Palace. The damask sunset had given way to a crisp, clear, star-lavished sky and the harvest moon nearly engulfed the eastern horizon with a pearly and steady glow.

Young Shifu hardly noticed its splendor that night. For all he knew, his world had all been pulled out from under him like a rug. Here he was, traveling with two geese he'd never met before – one walking in front of him and one behind him – and walking on ground he'd only seen from thousands of feet below. His little legs struggled to conquer the seemingly never-ending steps. Shifu couldn't forget climbing those things for the first time and wondering how in the world his dad could've stood climbing them every day. He couldn't forget looking up and seeing the Jade Palace towering over him like a gilded giant from one of Master Xue's stories.

But, more than anything from that walk, Shifu couldn't forget the chill of hearing the distant and haunting howls of two wolves resounding off the mountains – Lang and Gou's dark song of triumph. Just the mere sound of them pressed the cub on to climb the rest of the stairs just as fast as he could.

Koto had always told his assistants that if anything was to happen to him, they were to take young Shifu to the Jade Palace, where it was promised he'd be cared for.

And so it happened that Shifu first came into Oogway's training at the tender age of six.

_**TBC…**_

_Whooo!! Please review, ppl! BTW, if you haven't seen my drawings of my characters from this fic, check out my DeviantArt page! There's a link to it on my user page._

_Ma mi – "Mommy"_

_Kwoon – "training hall"_

_Benjirou (Japanese) – "son of two speeches"_

_Taplo (Central Asian) – "sweet and good like honey"_

_Lin-Lin – "beauty of a tinkling bell"_

_Xue – "studious"_


End file.
